Down By the River
by Nightborn Dreamer
Summary: When Naruto goes for a walk by the water, he comes across someone who he feels a strong pull to, as if his very soul was trying to reach out and grab the other person.


**Down by the River**

Pairing: NarutoxSasuke

Summary: When Naruto goes for a walk by the water, he comes across someone who he feels a strong pull to, as if his very soul was trying to reach out and grab the other person.

Author's Note: I went on a walk one morning and thought of two NarutoxSasuke fics I wanted to write, because I daydream a lot when I go walking, and this is one of the two ideas. ^^ Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

**~*N*~**

Naruto walked along St. Clair River, his favorite spot in his hometown. The river was to his right. In front of him was his dog Kurama, a red husky, sniffing everything and peeing every now and then. He held a bag with a scooper inside in his left hand, his right holding the leash for his dog. Kurama had woken him up at the buttcrack of dawn, whining to be walked. Naruto had ignored him at first, offering promises of giving him one in the afternoon when he was properly showered and awake, but Kurama had none of it, probably because he couldn't understand a word he was saying, being a dog and all. So, Naruto had given in and got up. He hadn't showered or eaten or even brushed his teeth yet, and his eyes were still crusty with sleep.

Just as he walked under the bridge connecting to Canada, Naruto saw the back of someone, a man, sitting alone on the concrete blocks, close to the water. Naruto ignored him, but stopped so Kurama could go to the bathroom, mentally cheering when he saw he was just peeing. He really didn't want to have to use his scoop.

He glanced back at the man to see him staring back at him and almost dropped the leash and bag. He looked into the other man's eyes and felt a strange pull, as if some invisible force was tugging him in the direction of the solitary man. He didn't give into the feeling, instead he gripped the leash and bag tighter and stood frozen. The man who had some of the darkest eyes Naruto had seen turned away almost as soon as Naruto looked his way, yet the pull didn't go away. It felt...uncomfortable, even hurt a little, but he continued to ignore it, and when his right arm raise as Kurama tugged on his leash, Naruto kept walking, letting the dog lead him, and didn't look at the man again.

**~*S*~**

They were outside again. Sasuke groaned and rolled to his side, trying to ignore the hammering and drilling going on outside. Stupid workers. Why the hell did they have to start work so early? He had worked the late shift last night and hadn't gotten home until four in the morning, and hadn't managed to fall asleep until five, then three hours later, was woken up by obnoxiously loud noises.

The house across the street from his apartment was getting new roof tiles as well as their porch fixed. Well fuck them and their fucking roof and porch. Why the hell did they wait so long anyway? It was cold as fuck outside. Halloween had just passed and it was the beginning of November. The weather wasn't _terrible_ (in the forties fifties and, if lucky, the early sixties) for the most part, but still, Sasuke was tired of waking up to this shit. It had been going on on and off since mid-September.

Getting pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of a drill, Sasuke threw his covers off and got dressed, his movements jerky and harsh due to his agitation. He felt his irritation swell in his chest and knew he had to get out and go somewhere away from the noise. Once he was dressed, he left his apartment, happy his roommate wasn't around, and walked in the direction of the river, his special place.

The river was his favorite place to go when it got colder. Sasuke hated summer due to how crowded it tended to get there, but in late fall and winter, it was the best. No one was usually around, save for the few people in their cars, but that was never early in the morning, which was one of Sasuke's favorite times to go, the other being at night, especially in winter.

When he got to the river, he climbed down the concrete blocks and got as close to the water as he could and sat. He never got into the water and, if he were to be honest, the water in this particular river scared him. Sasuke didn't have many friends, but the few he did have always went jumping in in the summer, and every summer he had to turn down their invitations to join, even to watch. He couldn't watch anyone he cared about get in this water. He was to afraid of it swallowing them up and never returning them.

"God damn it."

Sasuke jerked in surprise at the annoyed voice and looked back to see a blond haired man. Sasuke had seen him before, walking his dog by the water. His dog was with him now, looking way too happy considering his owner looked so annoyed.

"You just had to shit didn't you? You couldn't do this at home before we left..." the man grumbled the rest, lowering his voice so Sasuke couldn't hear it. He watched the man kneel down to clean up his dog's mess while his dog wagged his tail happily. When the man was done, he straightened up and looked right to Sasuke, causing him to freeze for some reason.

There was something strange about the man that Sasuke just did _not_ know how to react to. It was like there was something tugging at him, trying to pull him to the other man. He had never felt that way towards anyone before, so he tried to squash the feeling down and ignore it.

He saw the man smile, almost wearily, as if he wasn't sure how to react in this situation either, and said, "Hey there!"

"Hey," Sasuke said as he turned back to the water.

It was quiet for not even a minute before he heard the man complain, sounding annoyed again, "Fine jerk, don't say anything. Clearly the water has something more important to say." And then he and his dog were walking away.

Sasuke wanted to turn back around and shout that he _had_ answered, but decided against it. It didn't matter anyway. Sasuke was naturally soft spoken, so even when he thought he was speaking loudly, he really wasn't. He wasn't the best at controlling his tone and was often on the receiving end of "What did you say?" and "Did you say something?" and "Speak up! You're not talking loud enough!" To say it was frustrating and aggravating was an understatement. Often he felt like he had to scream at the top of his lungs just to satisfy some people.

Peeking over his shoulder, Sasuke looked for the other man but he was already gone, and so was the feeling of being pulled.

Now he just felt strangely empty.

**~*N*~**

Naruto fell into his bed as soon as he got home from yet another walk with Kurama. He had seen him again, and just like last time, the man had looked back at him and he had felt himself being pulled to him. This was the fifth time this month. Naruto was tempted to just go down to him, but he couldn't do that while walking Kurama and the only time he saw the other man was when he took Kurama out on his morning walk. He might have gone later in the day by himself, but he didn't see the man there and so didn't waste much time by the water. He mostly just liked to go there in the summer to jump in the river with his friends on hot days.

Now Kurama was in the backyard barking at a squirrel or the neighbor or a leaf or whatever. Naruto was lucky enough to live in a house instead of an apartment, so he could keep his rather fairly big dog and not have him cramped up. He had housemates, of course, to help him with the rent. One of his said housemates was opening his door. He looked up to see Sakura, a pretty pink haired girl he had been friends with since junior high.

"Hey, I didn't hear you come back. Did you enjoy your walk?" she asked. "You always come back looking...less at peace? I thought walks were supposed to help people clear their heads, but you're kind of making me doubt that."

Naruto rolled to his side, facing the wall and window his bed was by. He wasn't sure why, but he liked having his bed against a window.

"Really? Mine just gets kinda fogged up whenever I go out for a walk," then he paused to think about it and said, "or, well, when I come back anyway." His head felt strangely clear when he saw the other man, it was when he was away from him that he got confused.

"How come?" Sakura asked, walking inside and sitting at his computer desk chair.

Rather than answer, Naruto sat up and asked, "Can you take Kurama out for his morning walk tomorrow? Somewhere other than at the river?"

"Why?" Sakura asked, looking taken aback.

"There's something I wanna do tomorrow morning, at the river, and I can't do it with Kurama with me."

"You're not going to jump in are you?" Sakura asked hesitantly. "Kiba didn't dare you again, did he? The weather's getting colder you know. It's dropped to the thirties and twenties now! I ca-"

"I'm not going to jump in Sakura, don't worry about it." Naruto grinned. "So will you take him for his walk tomorrow? You get up early every day anyway...weird as that is."

"Nothing weird about it, but...fine. I'll make Sai go with me and hold the leash."

"Thatta girl! You get him good and whipped before you make him your bride!"

Sakura blushed at that. "Oh shut up!"

Naruto watched his friend stand up and leave, closing the door behind her, and grinned wider. He laid back down and looked up at his ceiling, thinking about that man's face. He couldn't fight it anymore. He had to talk to him, to at least learn his name, otherwise he'll burst. Besides, if he felt such a strong pull towards someone, he must be meant to reach out to that person. Maybe that person belonged in his life in some way, maybe...

His grin had disappeared as he closed his eyes and sighed. He shouldn't go too far. After all, he had no idea what the man's name was or...anything about him. But he just had this gut feeling that he was going to be important to him somehow. It was a feeling he never felt before, not toward anyone. He couldn't just ignore it. He didn't want to. Naruto was always the social type; he loved talking to people, save the people he didn't like anyway. But he could just tell, by the pull and his gut feeling that this person was going to be special.

Maybe he already was.

Naruto found himself drifting to sleep, his mind clearing and finding some sort of strange peace. He hadn't slept well last night, so a nice nap before he had to get up for work was ideal.

**~*N*~**

The next morning, Naruto walked down by the river by himself. Sakura had taken Kurama to the park and was going to play with him. She had waaaay too much energy in the morning. It normally wasn't until around noon (maybe a little after) that Naruto's energy started coming to him, usually after he ate his ramen.

As Naruto walked under the bridge, he looked for the familiar figure down by the rocks and he froze as his heart did a little jump when he saw him. He was already feeling the pull, and each and every time it was stronger and got harder to ignore. It was damn near impossible now.

Even though he made no noise and wasn't too close, the man looked over his shoulder at him.

Naruto wondered if he could feel it too.

Smiling hesitantly and raising his hand in greeting, he began to make his way to the concrete blocks, noting the way the other man's eyes widened a bit at it. The closer he got to him, the less intense the pulling feeling became. It was still there, but when he was standing one block behind the other man, it was doable. It was a bit strange though, how he wanted nothing more than to grab him and hold him close. Maybe the pull would go away if he did.

"Hey, do you mind if I sit with you?"

The other man just stared at him for a bit, a frown on his face and his eyebrows furrowed. Naruto shifted nervously on his feet, hoping he wasn't rejected. He had a feeling it would hurt way more than it probably should coming from a stranger he knew nothing about.

But then the man looked back down at the water and said in a low voice, "Do what you want."

Feeling immediate relief, Naruto got to the edge of the block he was standing on and sat down, his feet on the block Sasuke was on, near his side.

"I see you out here a lot. Do you like the water?"

It took him a second to answer. "The sound of it calms me, ironically."

Naruto wanted to ask a bit more about that, but the man interrupted him.

"I said hi back."

"Huh?"

"When you first said hey to me...I answered," the man spoke so low Naruto might not have heard him if he weren't sitting close to him.

Then he remembered.

"Oh! I didn't hear you, sorry." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Hn."

"So...my name's Naruto, what's yours?"

"...Sasuke."

_Sasuke._

His heart thumped in his chest.

Naruto wanted to scoot closer to Sasuke, to move and sit next to him, but found he couldn't move. The pull was like an ache now, as if it was soothed being closer to the man but still longed for more.

Wanting to keep his mind off it before he did something weird, Naruto said, "Too bad it's so cold out now, huh? Otherwise we could go swimming or something."

He saw Sasuke stiffen.

"I'd rather not."

"Eh, how come? Can't swim well or something?"

"I just don't like the idea of being in this river. People die here every summer...or disappear."

"Oh..." Naruto bit the inside of his cheek before asking, "Did you...know someone who...you know, died in the river? Or disappeared?"

Sasuke didn't answer at first and Naruto was practically at the edge of the concrete block as he waited. Naruto himself had never known anyone who drowned or disappeared in the river, but he had heard stories of others. The stories all seemed so far away from him though, like they couldn't touch him or his friends. Naruto had never actually thought that he, or any of his friends, would die when he went swimming, or heard of them going. It wasn't a worry or concern of his.

Then, Sasuke finally answered, "My brother drowned in this river."

Naruto's heart sunk at Sasuke's answer, aching, as if feeling Sasuke's pain with him.

"I'm sorry..."

"He just left with his friends to go sailing on a boat, but it sunk and it was late, no one was around and then he was just gone." Sasuke took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes at the water, as if blaming it for his brother's death. "And just before he had gone, we had an argument. I was jealous because he was always hanging out with his friends and never seemed to have any time for me anymore. That's the last memory I have of my brother, the last he has of me..." Sasuke blew out a puff of air in a short, humorless laugh, "I don't know why I'm telling you this."

Naruto fidgeted, wanting to pull Sasuke to him and offer some kind of comfort, but instead just smiled. "Probably needed to tell someone. Have you...talked to your parents or anyone else about it?"

"My parents...don't like to talk about Itachi."

"Itachi, that's your brother's name?"

"Yeah... After he died, my parents haven't been the same. I'm sure they've forgotten I exist by now. I haven't spoken to them in months, and when I did, it was always me calling or visiting them and them barely seeing or listening to me."

Naruto didn't know what to say about that. He had never known his own parents, them having died when he was still a baby. He had grown up in foster care until he was eighteen and started living on his own, with roommates anyway. He had no idea how to comfort Sasuke in the ways of family, and that made him feel powerless. He wanted to take all of Sasuke's burdens and pain and lift them from him, but he wasn't sure why. He felt so connected to this stranger he had never met before.

Since he didn't know what to say, Naruto got up from the concrete block and gave into his desire to be closer. He moved down to sit on the block with Sasuke, their sights lightly touching. At first Naruto wondered if maybe they were sitting too close, but Sasuke's body seemed to relax when Naruto sat down, so he decided it must be okay. He hadn't even noticed Sasuke was so tense until he wasn't anymore.

"You know...I go jumping in the river every summer."

Sasuke looked at him with a frown.

"You shouldn't do that. Anything can happen in the water, Naruto."

For some reason, Naruto's name seemed to have a special ring to it when said by Sasuke. And was that worry in his tone?

"Yeah, but anything can happen on the street, or when I get in a car. Not that I have a car right now, but soon...ish."

"It's not the same," Sasuke mumbled.

"Maybe not, but still. You know, if you ever wanted to jump in the river, I'd go with you." Naruto nudged Sasuke with his arm. "Or you know, you can just go down here. It's not deep. The water might come up to your waist but no further."

"I don't think so."

"Heh, well, it's up to you. It's not like I'd force you into doing something you don't wanna do."

"Hn."

"But uh, you know, even if you don't wanna go in the river, you can still call me anyway...to hang out and do something else...something safer like...I don't know...swing on the swings or something..."

Sasuke turned to him with an eyebrow raised and...was that a smirk?

"Swing on the swings? Are you a child?"

"Pssh, say what you want, but I like the swings!" Naruto kicked his legs, which were hanging over the water.

"For some reason...I'm not surprised."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Give me your phone. I'll put my number in it."

Excited, Naruto reached into his pocket and handed Sasuke his phone. He saw Sasuke freeze when he turned it on, looking the picture in the background which was of Sakura.

"Ah, that's my friend, Sakura. She likes to put pictures of herself on other people's phones when they're not looking." Naruto smiled when he saw Sasuke relax again. "I'm just too lazy to change it to something else. Before her, it was a picture of Kurama."

"Kurama?"

"My dog."

"Ah."

Sasuke took one of his black gloves off to put his number in and handed it back to Naruto.

"You can text me your number when you feel like it."

As he handed it back to Naruto, his fingers brushed against Naruto's and he shuddered.

"Ah, sorry, lost my gloves. My hands are freezing right now. My fingers sting a little." Naruto cupped his hands in front of his mouth and blew hot air into them.

"You should get yourself a pair of gloves. Winter's close and it's supposed to start snowing this week," Sasuke scolded as he put his glove back on.

"Baah, I'll get a pair soon."

"Do you even have boots and a proper coat?"

"Proper? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Something heavier than what you're wearing now." Sasuke gestured to his jacket, which was more fitted for autumn than winter.

"I still got time to find some," Naruto whined. "Jeez, it's not like I'mma freeze if I don't get them right away."

Suddenly, Sasuke stood up. "Go home, Naruto, before you freeze to death."

"It's not _that_ cold," Naruto said as he stood up too. He followed Sasuke as he climbed over the concrete blocks and back to the railroad tracks. They stood facing each other. Naruto wasn't really sure how to say goodbye to the other man. He really didn't want to.

"Which direction do you live?" Naruto asked, hoping they'd end up going the same way.

Sasuke pointed behind him, in the opposite direction Naruto had to go.

"Oh, I go the other way."

"I know."

Standing there, about to part, Naruto's heart ached and his body felt full of emotion and longing. He felt as if he would burst if he didn't _do_ something to ease it.

Without thought, Naruto reached out, grabbing Sasuke and pulling him to him in a crushing hug. His chest went from feeling tight to feeling very, very warm and nice. It spread through him and he breathed easier and felt surprisingly calmed.

Sasuke didn't fight his hold, nor did he tense up or act surprised in the slightest. He just leaned into it. It was almost as if he needed it as much as Naruto...maybe he really did. Naruto rested his chin on Sasuke's shoulder and gave him a good squeeze.

"Nice and warm," Naruto mumbled.

"Hn..."

He felt Sasuke's hands come up and grab the sides of his jacket.

"Should probably go though..."

"Text me and we can make plans to meet up later."

"Somewhere warm," Naruto laughed. "Like a coffee shop or somethin'."

"Okay."

"Alright, I'm going." Naruto released Sasuke from his arms, surprised at how reluctant he felt do so. Sasuke _must_ have felt the same, since it took him a few extra seconds to let go of his jacket. No other words were shared as they both turned to go their separate ways. As Naruto walked away, he wondered how long he should wait to text Sasuke.

Maybe he should wait until he at least got home. He didn't wanna appear too desperate and easy, after all. He had some pride.

Believe it.

And so he did. The second he opened the door to his apartment he pulled out his phone to text Sasuke.

**~*S*~**

_Eight months later..._

Sasuke watched Naruto take his shirt off, admiring the toned tan skin of his boyfriend. They had started dating in early December. Naruto had asked him out, which was good...since Sasuke had been too hesitant to do it himself, mostly because he had no idea what Naruto's preference was and wasn't sure how to ask. He also hadn't wanted to ruin the friendship they were building. Naruto was his closest friend and it had felt that way since the moment they started talking, which was...strange, to say the least. But Sasuke had felt an instant connection to Naruto, and had been so comfortable in his presence, so much so that he had ended up talking about Itachi right off the bat, something he had never done before. When he and Naruto had met up later, they had talked for hours, getting to know each other and their lives. It didn't take long before that strange pull Sasuke had felt was brought up, and he was surprised to find out Naruto had felt the same.

A few months after they started dating, Naruto claimed it was because they were soul mates. Sasuke didn't really believe in such a thing, but he had to admit, he had no other logical explanation for it.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he felt his shirt being tugged at.

"Are you going to take this off or what?" Naruto grinned as he pulled Sasuke's shirt over his head, Sasuke raising his arms to help him. "Ready to go in the water?"

"I still don't know how I let you talk me into this."

"Talk you into it? You were the one who suggested it!"

"Only because you were going to jump in the river with your friends."

"If you didn't want me to jump in the river, all you had to do was say so."Naruto frowned. "I don't wanna force you into doing something you don't wanna do. Do you want to go in the water with me?"

Sasuke bit his lip, looking over Naruto's shoulder at the water.

"We can always go to the pool."

"No, it's fine. I'm...fine. I want to go in the water with you."

Naruto brushed his lips against Sasuke's bare shoulder and squeezed his hips. "Okay." He let Sasuke go in order to get in the water first, climbing down the concrete blocks until his feet were in the water. He turned to look up at Sasuke. "Ready?"

Sasuke didn't say anything and swatted Naruto's hands away when he held them up for Sasuke to take; however, once Sasuke got in the water his hands reached out to grip Naruto's biceps.

"See, not that scary down here right? Your head's still far above water level."

"Shut up," Sasuke grumbled, a bit embarrassed that he was making such a fuss. He didn't know how to explain it, but he was just afraid of water (not including a pool or bathtub, that water was controllable). It was just how unpredictable and uncontrollable water was that scared him. He gripped Naruto tightly, to keep the water from stealing him, but also to assure himself that he was safe. Naruto was his safety net in the water, being a much better swimmer than Sasuke was due to swimming a hundred times more than him.

He was safe there with Naruto. He was safe.

Sasuke's grip on Naruto started to lesson as his heart beat slowed down, back to normal pace.

"Feels good, right?" Naruto sighed. "Nice and cool. I don't feel like I'm going to die of a heat stroke anymore."

Right. Sasuke hadn't even noticed in his fear. He wasn't hot anymore at all, even though he had been sweating like crazy just before they arrived. It was damn near a hundred degrees out.

Just then, as Sasuke was about to let go of Naruto, a couple of boats came speeding by, leaving waves behind them that started crashing into Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke gripped Naruto's arm with one hand as his other quickly went behind him to steady himself against one of the blocks, his heart racing again.

"It's okay, you're okay," Naruto said in a rush, though his tone was gentle and assuring. "Maybe not as fun as it could be," he chuckled a little.

"I'm ready to get out now."

"Okay."

Naruto let Sasuke hold onto him until he was ready to climb out of the water. The waves hadn't been that strong, but they had been close to knocking Sasuke off his balance and he didn't like that. Naruto shook a little as well, and he liked that even less.

"I think I'd rather go to the beach than here. It's not very relaxing," Naruto mused as he climbed out after Sasuke.

"I refuse to go to beach with the strong currents. The current is too strong," Sasuke said. "I almost drowned there when I was a kid."

Naruto put a hand on his back and rubbed it.

"We can go to the pool now? Or are you cool enough?"

"We can go to the beach, just so long as the current isn't too strong." Sasuke turned to his lover as he put his shirt back on. "You want to swim."

"I do, but I can swim at the pool." Sasuke's eyes narrowed at him and he quickly said, "Or the beach, that's cool."

"Let's go then."

"There's one close to here that doesn't have much of a current." Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand as they began walking. They fell into mundane conversation on the way to the beach, Naruto laughing as he pointed out a house with a peace sign on it right after they saw a hippie van drive past them. It wasn't anything spectacular or earth shattering, but these were some of the happiest times of Sasuke's life now.

He still mourned for his brother and struggled to remain in contact with his parents, but he found peace with Naruto. His best friend, his lover...his soul mate.


End file.
